We shouldn’t destroy this tweeting idiot’s life

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56 days in prison (and a possible university expulsion) for sending racist messages is grossly excessive

First warning: this article contains asterisks. They are there so that you can
work out what the edited words are, but somehow won’t get offended while
you’re doing it. Second warning: this column begins at a football match, but
it isn’t about football.

On Saturday March 17 I was at the (televised) FA Cup sixth-round match between
Spurs and Bolton, when Fabrice Muamba, the Bolton midfielder, collapsed. As
the 36,000 spectators began to realise that a young man might be dying in
front of them, an extraordinary thing happened. The religious would call it
prayer, I’d call it palpable hope